smiling – Success Across Cultures

How do people determine trustworthiness in others?

While research has shown that smiling faces are generally trusted more than non-smiling ones, the perception of trustworthiness varies significantly across cultures.

We discussed this in last week’s blog, which examined cross-cultural research that delved into the complex and varied interpretations of smiling.

Yet another study on the subject seems to confirm that research.

Exploring the “smile effect” in American and Japanese participants, this study focuses on how different elements of a smile – intensity at the eyes, intensity at the mouth, and facial symmetry – influence judgments of trustworthiness.

Let’s dive in.

Cultural Variations in Smile Perception

Researchers initially had Japanese participants rate 54 American and 69 Japanese male faces for smile intensity at the eyes and mouth, as well as facial symmetry.

These images were then presented to 142 American and 80 Japanese participants, who rated each face’s trustworthiness.

The findings revealed stark cultural differences.

Japanese participants found faces with greater upper-half (eye) intensity and smile symmetry to be more trustworthy but viewed faces with greater lower-half (mouth) intensity as less trustworthy.

Conversely, American participants perceived faces with greater lower-half intensity as more trustworthy, while upper-half intensity and smile symmetry had no significant impact.

Understanding These Differences

Why do these cultural differences occur?

The study suggests that in Japanese culture, people tend to control their emotional expressions, relying more on the eyes and smile symmetry, which are harder to manipulate, to judge trustworthiness.

Additionally, in Japan, highly expressive smiles are less appropriate in cooperative contexts, leading to a lower trust rating for strongly smiling faces.

In contrast, American culture encourages overt emotional expression.

Therefore, American participants focused more on the mouth, the most expressive part of the face, when making trust judgments.

Additional Findings

The study also examined other personality traits and found a variety of cultural differences and similarities.

Interestingly, American faces were rated by Japanese participants as more trustworthy than Japanese ones, while Japanese faces were rated by American participants as more trustworthy than American ones.

This suggests that cultural biases can influence perceptions of trustworthiness.

The study had several limitations.

The three smile elements were rated only by Japanese participants, and these ratings may differ across cultures.

The photographs used were taken for electoral campaigning, which might not reflect everyday expressions.

Furthermore, only male faces were used, so future studies should include female faces to see if the findings apply across genders.

Smile Trustworthiness

This study highlights significant cultural differences in how trustworthiness is inferred from smiles.

To fully understand the detection of trustworthiness, future research should explore how people express their intentions and emotions when they have an incentive to be trusted, considering both the receivers and senders of facial signals.

Additionally, understanding the historical context and origins of these cultural differences would provide a deeper insight into the mechanisms of nonverbal communication, which becomes more important as the world becomes more globally connected.

Frank Sinatra sang, “When you’re smilin’, the whole world smiles with you.”

But that may not be the case.

Some cultures are much more openly smiley than others.

And this is all due to norms, behaviors, and how smiling is viewed in society.

Smiling is often associated with positive traits such as happiness, attractiveness, competence, and friendliness.

This perception is widely accepted, especially in Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies, where most psychological research is conducted.

However, the influence of culture on the social perception of nonverbal behavior, including smiling, is not well-understood.

Recent research reveals that cultural context can significantly alter how smiling individuals are perceived.

Cultural Differences in Smiling Perception

In cultures with low scores on the GLOBE’s uncertainty avoidance dimension, a smiling person may be judged as less intelligent compared to a non-smiling person.

This finding challenges the assumption that smiling universally conveys positive attributes.

Additionally, societal corruption levels can undermine the prosocial perception of smiling.

In societies with high corruption indicators, trust toward smiling individuals diminishes.

This suggests that in some cultural contexts, smiling can have negative associations.

Gender Roles and Smile Perception

The study also highlights the role of gender in the social perception of smiles.

Female assessors are more likely than male assessors to attribute intelligence and honesty to smiling individuals.

Furthermore, the gender of the person being assessed influences the perception of honesty, but only for non-smiling targets.

These gender-based differences in smile perception do not affect the cultural variations in how smiles are interpreted, which is the primary focus of the study.

Practical Implications

This cross-cultural study sheds light on the complex and varied interpretations of smiling.

While smiling is generally perceived favorably, in some cultures, a smiling individual may be judged as less intelligent than when displaying a neutral expression.

In uncertain social conditions, expressing certainty through smiling may not effectively signal intelligence.

Similarly, in untrustworthy environments, displaying unconditional trust through smiling can be risky.

This has practical implications, particularly in the context of globalization and job applications.

For instance, in countries where photographs are commonly included in CVs, understanding whether a smile conveys competence and trustworthiness or negative traits can be crucial for international applicants.

As with our look at eye contact and culture in last week’s blog, this research advances the theory of nonverbal behavior by highlighting how cultural dimensions influence the perception of smiles.

It underscores the importance of considering cultural frameworks in understanding nonverbal communication and reveals that the generally positive perception of smiling can have unexpected negative implications in certain cultural contexts.

Tag: smiling

The Smile Effect: How Culture Shapes Who We Trust